Lynn Bowden
Assessing Vulnerability and Resilience in Maine Fishing Communities
This project developed a participatory, place-based approach for assessing the vulnerability and resilience of Maine fishing communities, documenting threats and resources available to respond to those threats. To understand the forces driving vulnerability, Johnson and graduate students Cameron Thompson and Anna Henry worked with community stakeholders to identify opportunities and strategies for improving resilience of fishing communities. They produced a summary report, entitled, “In Their Own Words: Fishermen’s Perspectives of Community Resilience.”
Once upon a time, Maine fishermen and women harvested a diversity of species, from groundfish and herring to lobsters, clams, shrimp, and scallops, depending on market conditions and resource abundance. Today, Maine’s fishing culture is concentrated in 50 coastal communities and is overwhelmingly dependent on lobster, while regulations have restricted other fisheries. Since 1990, the number of vessels landing groundfish in Maine dropped from 350 to 70. At least 72 groundfish permits have been lost, and dramatic changes in management are imminent, leading Johnson to wonder, “How vulnerable are Maine’s fishing communities? What can be done to improve their resiliency to future change?”
These are the questions that federal fisheries managers must ask when assessing the impact of new rules, yet too often they don’t have the right data to answer the questions. This project developed a participatory, place-based approach for assessing the vulnerability and resilience of Maine fishing communities, documenting threats and resources available to respond to those threats. To understand the forces driving vulnerability, Johnson and graduate students Cameron Thompson and Anna Henry worked with community stakeholders to identify opportunities and strategies for improving resilience of fishing communities.
Lynn Bowman was born on December 20, 1938, in Eastport, Maine. She is a third-generation Eastporter who lived in the city until her high school graduation. Like many young people from Eastport, she moved away after graduation to pursue opportunities in larger cities. She relocated to Portland, where she lived for approximately forty-eight years. During her career, Bowman worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and she is now retired. In her youth, she was involved in the fisheries, working in a factory during the summer when she was fifteen. Her job involved cartoning, a process of packing sealed cans into individual boxes. Bowman returned to Eastport after her retirement and has lived there for about fifteen years at the time of the interview in 2011.
Scope and Content Note
This interview with Lynn Bowman was conducted by Anna Henry on July 26, 2011, as part of the Assessing Vulnerability and Resilience in Maine Fishing Communities Project and the NOAA 50th Oral History Project. The interview took place in Eastport, Maine, Bowman's birthplace and current residence. The interview covers Bowman's personal history, including her birth, early life, career, and retirement. She discusses her experiences working in the fisheries during her teenage years, specifically her role in cartoning at a local factory. Bowman also shares her observations on the changes in Eastport over the years. She notes the influx of people who have moved to the city, bringing their dreams and investments, and opening stores and buying homes. She predicts that Eastport will become a bustling tourist destination in the next ten years, although she personally prefers a self-sufficient community where residents can live comfortably. Bowman expresses her love for Eastport, describing it as beautiful, safe, friendly, and akin to paradise. She appreciates the sense of community and security in the city, where everyone looks after each other. Despite the challenges faced by young people in finding jobs in Eastport, forcing them to move away after high school, Bowman remains optimistic about the city's future.
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